The cutting or polishing of diamonds and similar stones is usually accomplished at workbenches to which a spindle carrying a horizontal or flat wheel or lap has been mounted. A suitable polishing agent, such as a mixture of diamond dust and oil, is placed on the wheel and the stone to be cut is brought into contact therewith. The wheels are necessarily run at very high speeds, for example, in the neighborhood of 3,000 RPM.
In order to properly effect the cutting and polishing of the stone and avoid interrupted cutting or polishing which can cause damage to the diamond and tremendously decrease the commercial value of the stone, it is necessary that the work table and wheel run perfectly true and with minimal vibration. Various methods of constructing the wheel and spindle and mounting it to a bracket held by the working surface of the work bench have been developed, one of which is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,374,267. However, because of the means by which the wheel must be held by the work bench and because of the very high speeds at which the wheels are run, a significant degree of vibration is imparted from the wheel to the work surface making the proper cutting or polishing difficult and dangerous. The difficulty is further aggrevated by the means by which the stone to be cut is brought in contact with the wheel surface. The stone is usually held in a stone holder or dop which is generally a U-shaped object having tongs at one end for holding the stone. The other end of the dop is rested on the work surface and the tong end is pivoted to bring the stone in contact with the wheel. Since the dop is not connected to the work surface, a "bouncing" motion is then imparted from the vibration of the work surface to the dop.
Various designs have been employed in the past to reduce the vibration of the work surface. For example, rubber bushings have been inserted to separate the work surface from the spindle. While such designs have reduced the degree of vibration, they have not been successful in substantially freeing the work surface of vibration.
Accordingly, it is the object of this invention to provide a diamond polishing work bench which has a top working surface on which the dop is rested which is substantially free of vibration.